Bill Text: MS SB2839 | 2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Workers' Compensation Commission; revise provision related to.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2025-01-20 - Referred To Business and Financial Institutions [SB2839 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2025-SB2839-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2025 Regular Session
To: Business and Financial Institutions
By: Senator(s) Polk
Senate Bill 2839
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 71-3-85, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REVISE THE NAME OF THE WORKERS' COMPENSATION COMMISSION; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 71-3-85, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
71-3-85. (1) There is
hereby created a commission to be known as the * * * Workers'
Compensation Commission, consisting of three (3) members, who shall devote
their entire time to the duties of the office. The Governor shall appoint the
members of the commission, by and with the consent of the Mississippi State
Senate, one (1) for a term of two (2) years, one (1) for a term of four (4)
years, and one (1) for a term of six (6) years. Upon the expiration of each
term as above set forth, the Governor shall appoint a successor for a term of
six (6) years, and thereafter the term of office of each commissioner shall be
for six (6) years. One (1) member shall be a person who by reason of his
previous vocation or affiliation can be classed as a representative of
employers, and one (1) member shall be a person who by reason of his previous
vocation or affiliation can be classed as a representative of employees. One
(1) member shall be an attorney-at-law of recognized ability with
at least five (5) years' active practice in Mississippi prior to his
appointment. The Governor shall designate the chairman of the commission, whose
term of chairman shall run concurrently with his appointment as a commissioner.
The chairman shall be the administrative head of the commission and shall have the final authority in all matters relating to assignment of cases for hearing and trial and the administrative work of the commission and its employees, except in the promulgation of rules and regulations wherein the commission shall act as a body, and in the trial and determination of cases as otherwise provided.
Upon the expiration of the
term of a commissioner, he shall continue to serve until his successor has been
appointed. Because cumulative experience is conspicuously essential to the
proper administration of a * * * Workers'
Compensation Law, it is declared to be in the public interest to continue * * * Workers'
Compensation Commissioners in office as long as efficiency is demonstrated. A
commissioner may be removed for cause prior to the expiration of his term, but
shall be furnished a written copy of the charges against him and shall be
accorded a public hearing.
Each member of the commission and each administrative law judge shall receive an annual salary fixed by the Legislature.
(2) A vacancy in the commission, if there remain two (2) members of it, shall not impair the authority of such two (2) members to act. In case of illness or continued absence for other reasons, the same authority of such two (2) members shall apply.
(3) The commission shall have the powers and duties necessary for effecting the purposes of this chapter, including the powers of a court of record for compelling the attendance of witnesses, examining them under oath, and compelling the production of books, papers, documents and objects relevant to the determination of a claim for compensation, and the power to adopt rules and regulations and make or approve the forms relating to notices of injuries, payment of claims and other purposes. The authority of the commission and its duly authorized representatives to investigate and determine claims for compensation shall include the right to enter the premises where an injury occurred, to ascertain its causes and circumstances.
(4) The office of the commission shall be situated in the City of Jackson, but hearings may be held at such places as it may deem most convenient for the proper and speedy performance of its duties. The commission is authorized, if it deems it necessary for the convenient and efficient dispatch of business, to lease office space and facilities in other than publicly owned buildings.
(5) The commission shall
adopt detailed rules and regulations for implementing the purposes of this
chapter at hearings attended by the main parties interested. Such rules, upon
adoption, shall be published and be at all reasonable times made available to
the public and, if not inconsistent with law, shall be binding upon those participating
in the responsibilities and benefits of the * * * Workers'
Compensation Law.
(6) The commission shall adopt or approve the forms required for administering the chapter, such notices of injury, application for benefits, receipts for compensation and all other forms needed to assure the orderly and prompt operation of the law, and may require the exclusive use of any or all such approved forms.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2025.
